LAPSED PATENTS NOW OPEN TO ALL

Chennai, Sept 5: The country’s patent office is now making all lapsed and expired patents public, including their technological details, so that companies, especially SMEs, can build on them for new product lines. It has recently introduced a new link on its website for such patents, from which anyone can get the details free of cost. Anyone can make products based on the technologies disclosed by such lapsed and expired patents.

A patent has a lifespan of 20 years from the date of filing of the application, after which it expires. Some patents expire with no renewal being done at the appropriate time. Chaitanya Prasad, controller general of patents, designs and trademarks & registrar of geographical indications, who was in Chennai on Friday, said this was a novel facility, unheard of in other parts of the world.

Describing how it could be beneficial for companies, Prasad said that at the time of filing of the patent application, every inventor has to disclose the technologies and specifications, and also file a report every year on how a particular patent is working in the specified area.

“Persons skilled in science are in a position to make products by following patent specifications. Earlier, when the patent was given to someone, nobody had the right to infringe up on the right. When a patent is lapsed or expired, it becomes public property,” he said.

He further said that while companies can develop new products by working on a lapsed patent, it cannot be re-patented again. Prasad said that in order to better its services, the country's patent office will be signing a bilateral MoU with European Patent Office (EPO) in the last week of September in Geneva.

“The MoU will pave the way for a biannual work plan and will mostly deal in cooperation in various fields, including human resource & IP personal training and data exchange, among others,” he said, adding that the MoU will benefit the Indian IP regime the most.

Admitting that the patent of- fice needed to step up hiring, he said the government had recently sanctioned 333 posts of fresh examiners. "By 2020 we will be on a par with best-ofworld practices," he said.

On an average,. Indian patent examiners work on 140 applications per year against 60-70 for their US and EU counterparts, he added. The patent office is also making efforts to make patent filing easier with the opening of a comprehensive payment gateway by September 8, involving all banks and credit cards.

In the country, around 43,000 applications are filed for patents every year. Of this, Indian firms represent 20%.